Carbonizing-furnace



following is a specication.

. UNITED sTATEs'P-ATENT oEEIoE.

JEAN HUBERT LOUIS DEBATS, or ZELIENOPLE, PENNSYLVANIA; AssIGNo-R To NEWV PROCESS METALS CORPORATION, OF WIIlVII'NG DELAWARE.

TON, DELAWARE, A CORPORATION OF CAEBoN'IzING-.FURNACE AApplication filed August 19, 1918. -Seiial-No. 250,463.'

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, JEAN. HUBERT LOUIS DEBATS, aresident 'of Zelienople, in the county of Butler1 and State of Pennsylvania,

have invented anew and useful Improvement in Carbonizing-Furnaces, of which the This invention relates to carbonizing furnaces and its object is to provideafurnace for this purpose whereby all-of the articles or pieces subjected toi-ts action re- Y ceiveA a uniform heatv andy a uniform carboni'zing effect.

According to the usual methods of car- 'bonizing iron andsteel articles, the articles are packed in charcoal or other carbonizing material in a closedcontainer, and said con- `tainer is placed in a suitable heating furnace and lsubjected to such temperature as will cause vcarbon gasesto be evolvedfrom the` carbonizingmaterial, and which gases penetrate and deposit carbon on the metal articles. Whencarbonizing small articles or pieces, a number thereof are packed in the. carbonizing material -in a single container, and, as a consequence, thosenearest the outside *of the container recelve the .greatest degree of heat, or are-subjected to the heat for a longer time and are, therefore,

carbonized to a greater degree than' thos l near the center of the container.

The purpose of my invention Vis to over.-

i come the above objection, and to this end the furnace, which is a combined furnace and container, is made rotatable and movable relative to the sourcevof heat, solthat all parts of the furnace chamber or container are brought into the same relation tothe source of heat, and each ofthe articles in said container or drum arev subjected to the same temperature, and, therefore, to the same carbonlzmg conditlons.

The accompanying drawings illustrate a f convenient embodiment of the invention. In

said drawings Figure 1 is a longitudinal central section through the furnace; Fig. 2

is a transverse section on the line Q-`2,.Fig.

showing the condition as .the drum rotates. The contalner or furnace comprlsesl a drum 1 having hea-'ds 2 closingits ends and1 provided on its inside with arefractory linbacked by a layer of heat insulating material 4, -such as 'kieselguhr'. The drum lis co'nstructed to be substantially hermetically4 Patented Mai-16,1920

' ing, such as .refractory brickor mortar,

sealed to exclude air, and the articles or pieces to be treated, and the carbonizing` material, are inserted therein and removed therefrom through a suitable door; or doorsV 5 in 'the head or heads' of the drum and which also are so constructedv as to make a' substantially air tight closure, and also are -provided on their inner faces with a re- `fractory member 3a backed by a layer of heat insulating material 4a.

This drum 1s provided with bands A6 and is mounted upontwo sets of rolls 47 which contact -with said bands and rotatably supfport the' drum. The rolls 7 are secured to .longitudinalshafts 8 mounted in bearings on` a suitable foundation, and one or both or moreJl of the driven rolls and one or more ofthe bands engaged thereby may be toothed'. v.

`so as tov secure a positive rotation ofthe drum. l y 4 lThe heat may be applied to the dnum in any suitable way, such for instance, as providing the same with an interior longitudinal heat ing flue or ilues, preferably' a central flue 10.

-provided with a refractory lining 11 and havingits ends partially closed by the annularrefractory blocks 12 and 13, the, latter of which forms a rotatable joint with the stack or chimney 14,. provided with a damper 15. The heat may be applied to theV Hue inlany suitable way, such as by means of a gas burner 16 arranged to project the flame into the ,oppositeend of the flue, as shownin'` Fig. 1, or connecting to said end of the flue a suitable coal or other furnace, or by mounting the drum in the chamber* of a suitable furnace, jsuch as one ofthe usual carbonizing furnaces in which containers are placed. To prevent theproducts of combustion from passing Y .too rapidly through the ue 10 and to spread the flame and cause ittocontact with the vwalls of the los flue, said flue is provided with a 'plurality of perforated batlles or transverse barriers 17, of refractory material.

The articles or pieces. to be treated are indicated at embedded in carbonizing material in the drum. The annular space in the drum is not completely filled With such pieces and carbonizing material, but preferably is Vfilled only about half full, as indicated in Fig. 2, so that during the rotation of the drum the said pieces are moved around in the annular space in the drum and are moved in the carbonizing material, as indicated in Fig. 3. Since the drum rotates continuously', all portions of the heating chamber are brought into the same relation to the source of heat, and said heating chamber and .its contents are heated to a uniforml degree, as a result of Which all of the articles or ieces are carbonized to thesame degree. he tumbling of the articles in the drum agitates the carbonizing material so that the heat will more readily permeate and be uniformlyconducted through the same; and also results in bringing new' particles of carbonizing material Ainto contact with the articles or pieces being treated.

The carbonizing material may be of the usual kind, but preferably will be graphite in a finely divided state, such as known as graphite float Preferably also, the articles or pieces Will be preliminarily heated above the critical tempera-ture to open up their pores, before placing 'the same in the carbonizing drum, as described and claimed in my application of even dateherewith, Serial No. 250,462.

The apparatus lllustrated obviously can be modified Within Wide limits.

1. A carbonizing container or furnace comprising` a rotatably mounted hermetically closed drum constructed to receive the carbonizing material and the pieces to be car-y bonized, said drum being provided with an,

interior flue, means for applying heat to said flue, and means for rotating said drum.

2. A carbonizlng muiile or furnace comprisinga rotatably mounted hermetically Aclosed drum constructed to receive carbonizing material and the pieces to be carbonized,`

said drum being provided 'With a central longitudinal flue, means for applying heat to said flue,` and means for rotating said drum.

3. A carbonizing muffle or furnace comprising a rotatably mounted hermetically 

